Modern digital cameras typically include an imaging device which is controlled by a computer system. The computer system accesses raw image data captured by the imaging device and then processes and compresses the data before storing the compressed data into an internal memory. Efficient operation of the computer is therefore an important consideration for camera designers and manufacturers. The memory architecture of a particular computer system determines data storage techniques and can thus significantly effect the operational efficiency of the entire digital camera system.
The user interface in conventional digital cameras typically includes a view finder in which small versions of the captured images may be displayed to allow a user to review several images at once. By selecting one of the images, the user may then display the full-sized version of the images in the view finder.
Due to architectural limitations of conventional digital cameras, there are several drawbacks in creating multimedia objects from captured images. As used conventionally, the term multimedia implies that the object includes some combination of graphics, sound, and text. Some conventional digital cameras, however, do not have sound recording capability, not to mention the capability of attaching a sound clip to a captured image in order to create a multimedia object.
Conventional cameras that have sound recording capability, however, typically only allow the user to annotate the last image captured. This is done by capturing the image, recording a sound clip to annotate the image, and then attaching the sound clip to the captured image.
Although the recording of sound to annotate a captured image is an improvement over cameras that have no sound recording capability, the method has several disadvantages. One disadvantage is that only the last image captured by the camera may be annotated by sound. Thus, if the user captures an image and forgets to annotate it before capturing another image, the previously captured image can never be annotated. A corresponding disadvantage is that the sound associated with the image can only be recorded after the image is captured, not before.
Another disadvantage in annotating a single image is that after annotating the image, the user must download the captured image and the attached sound to a personal computer in order to view the image and hear the sound annotation. Thus, an annotated image cannot be played back on the digital camera, even if the digital camera includes a view finder.
Accordingly, what is needed is an improved method and system for attaching sound to images in a digital camera. The present invention addresses such a need.